During a live online conference, such as a live webinar or a live online training session, a presenter can present to participants having varying consumption rates, i.e., the rate at which a participant is able to consume and understand the information presented during the online conference. The participants' consumption rates vary based on a variety of factors, such as the level of knowledge of the subject matter for each participant, the amount of preparation the participant did prior to the conference, and the language of the presentation.
Existing online conferencing applications do not provide feedback based on the participants' consumption rate for a presenter during the live online conference to inform the presenter if his or her delivery rate is appropriate or if a particular section of the online presentation is difficult for participants to understand. With existing online conferencing applications, a presenter will not receive feedback on the conference, if at all, until after the online conference is complete. During the conference, a presenter will not know what specific content or section of the presentation the participants are finding difficult or the percentage of participants finding the particular content or section difficult. If a presenter's delivery rate is too fast for a significant number of participants or if a significant number of participants did not understand a section of the conference, the effectiveness of the online conference is reduced. Additionally, existing live online conferencing applications do not allow users to revisit prior sections of the live online conference while still playing the live portion of the online conference. Presenters in a live online conference need a way to know dynamically during the conference if changes are required to their presentation in order be more in line with the participants' rate of consumption. The lack of dynamic feedback during the online conference does not allow for a presenter make informed decisions regarding adjusting his or her presentation in order to more closely correlate with the participants' rate of consumption.